An evaluation of the effectiveness of Smite’s Player Report System
Summary
In this research toxic player behavior, which is unacceptable behavior by players in online communities, within Smite has been studied through analyzing Hi-Rez Studios player behavior initiatives and the effectiveness of their Player Report System in an attempt to fully understand which factors, which can be influenced by policy, determine the effectiveness of the Player Report System so that recommendations on how to improve the Player Report System can be provided in order to combat toxic player behavior within Smite. Prior to evaluating the effectiveness of the Player Report System Hi-Rez Studios’ Player Behavior policy was examined to determine what mechanisms that underlie the Player Report System could determine the effectiveness of the Player Report System. To determine how well developed Hi-Rez Studios’ Player Behavior policy is the Player Behavior policy of two other games got examined. Further, the Player Behavior policy of these other games was used to provide Hi-Rez Studios with recommendations on how to increase the effectiveness of the Player Report System. The effectiveness of Smite’s Player Report System has been analyzed by comparing the current effectiveness of the Player Report System with the desired effectiveness of the Player Report System. This research showed that the current Player Report System is ineffective in suspending the desired percentage of players that had exhibited suspension worthy toxic player behavior. Furthermore, this research showed that number of reports can be used as an indicator of whether a player has exhibited toxic player behavior, that it is inconclusive whether the Player Report System is effective in altering the behavior of those players who have been suspended, and that the more competitive/serious players are more likely to exhibit toxic player behavior than the more casual players. The factors, which can be influenced by policy, that determine the effectiveness of Hi-Rez Studios Player Behavior policy regarding the reduction of toxic player behavior are the number of cases that are reviewed, the amount of toxic player behavior that is exhibited and reported, whether reports are filed against players who exhibit toxic player behavior, the number of games of Smite a player has played, and the number of hours per game a player has played Smite. The recommendations provided can be sorted into two categories: proactive policy options, and retroactive policy options. The proactive policy options focus on preventing suspension worthy toxic player behavior to be exhibited, and the retroactive policy options focus on punishing those players who have exhibited suspension worthy toxic player behavior. The policy options that were recommended are: a player behavior alert system, communication restrictions, behavioral guidelines, an automated suspension/ban system for second- and third degree offenses, implementing a suspension notification, simplifying the Customer Support team case review tool, and possibly expanding the Customer Support team as well as increasing the amount of time they can spend on reviewing cases on a daily basis.